Joker - Okay

I will say my husband was a bit more excited to see this movie than I was due to his love for Batman and all. But as we got started, I could tell it was going to be much sinister and psychological than any other type of "origins" movie. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Arthur Fleck before he was ever deemed as "the Joker." Now as I've said in the past, I'm all for movies based on a comic book, however I don't really know what actually in said comic books. Was this film solely based on what top psychologists think happened to Arthur or was all this mentioned somewhere in the comic books? That's probably a question for David, and one that I honestly don't care enough about to do some research like a professional movie reviewer would do. That being said though, it was extremely interesting to watch Arthur have a mental breakdown while his life kept getting beat down. 

One thing I thought was interesting (again was this in the comic books?) was that he thought he was Bruce Wayne's brother. The sheer denial that Mr. Wayne gave him was critical in the devolution of his mania. If this were true, I really had no clue how much older than Bruce he was! That's crazy if you ask me to have an arch enemy in the future that's probably at least 20 years age difference (just guessing), when in all the other movies it seems to me like they are the same age (I know movies are subjective based on the actors/actresses they hire, but still, shocking!). 

I didn't get any of the exciting scenes in this movie like I would have wanted, but from the fact that it was supposed to be a "psychological" movie that focuses on one character, I really can't blame the filmmakers on this. There was plenty of gore in it, but I have to commend Phoenix on his portrayal of Arthur Fleck, I can absolutely see him being a contender for Best Actor. However, I'm not 100% sold on the Best Picture nomination. Anything can happen right? 

I give 3/5 stars for the great acting and the interesting concepts, but it wasn't able to hold my full attention. ✩ ✩ ✩

​More like this: Batman v Superman, Inception, Fight Club